Abortion rights ballot measures pass in 7 states, fail in 3 others

Defeats in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota ended an unbroken post-Roe ballot measure winning streak for reproductive rights advocates.

Nov. 6, 2024
By Adam Edelman

Constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion rights passed in seven of the 10 states where they appeared on the ballot Tuesday, NBC News projects.

Voters in Arizona and Missouri approved ballot initiatives that will effectively protect abortion rights until fetal viability and undo existing abortion laws on the books. But voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected proposed amendments that would have done the same — becoming the first pro-abortion-rights ballot measures to fail since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/abortion-rights-ballot-measures-pass-7-states-fail-3-others-rcna178718

The GOP’s New Tactic to Block Abortion Votes Is Startlingly Successful

By Mary Ziegler
Sept 12, 2024

Conservatives have once again turned to the courts to keep people from voting on reproductive rights. Missouri and Nebraska were set to be among the 10 states where voters will weigh in directly on abortion rights, but anti-abortion groups have gone to court to block either one from moving forward. The conservative Missouri Supreme Court rejected this gambit earlier this week, while a ruling from the Nebraska Supreme Court is expected soon. But whatever happens, it’s worth paying attention to the strategy in these cases: a kind of heads-I-win-tails-you-lose plan that either blocks voters from deciding about abortion rights or confuses the electorate about what is being decided.

A group of anti-abortion advocates and lawmakers had sued Missouri Attorney General Jay Ashcroft for having certified the ballot measure. Nebraska’s high court is considering two suits, one filed by a neonatologist opposed to abortion, a second by an Omaha resident.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/09/gop-blocks-abortion-votes-missouri-nebraska.html

12.09.2024

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USA – Abortion ballot measures have had success, but this year is their biggest challenge

Aug. 23, 2024
By Kate Zernike, New York Times|

Ballot measures on abortion rights have succeeded beyond what even their proponents imagined when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

They have not only enshrined a constitutional right to abortion and restored access to the procedure in red and purple states. They have also converted what had been a voter mobilization advantage for Republicans into one for Democrats.

Continued: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/aug/23/abortion-ballot-measures-have-had-success-but-this/_

US abortion numbers have risen slightly since Roe was overturned, study finds

Abortion was slightly more common across the U.S. in the first three months of this year than it was before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for states to implement bans, according to a new study.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL and KIMBERLEE KRUESI
August 7, 2024

The number of women getting abortions in the U.S. actually went up in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a report released Wednesday found, reflecting the lengths that Democratic-controlled states went to expand access.

A major reason for the increase is that some Democratic-controlled states enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans, according to the quarterly #WeCount report for the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-survey-pills-roe-election-2024-7179dda48eae0a764be89c2e0aafd80a

USA – Abortion Ballot Measures Aren’t Safe From the Courts

People are understandably excited about statewide votes on abortion, but they could be gutted by a future Trump administration or by conservative judges.

By Susan Rinkunas
June 6, 2024

There could be nearly a dozen constitutional amendments codifying the right to abortion on the ballot this fall—and some could even overturn active abortion bans, like in Florida, Missouri, and South Dakota.

But abortion ballot measures are not a magic fix: They don’t immediately undo bad laws, as evidenced by Ohio advocates having to file multiple lawsuits to challenge past restrictions, and they can’t bring back clinics that closed. And there’s one more vulnerability we’re not talking about: Pro-choice ballot measures aren’t safe from a future Trump administration, or the conservatives on the Supreme Court.

Continued: https://www.jezebel.com/abortion-ballot-measures-arent-safe-from-the-courts

Why abortion is on the ballot everywhere

Opinion by Mary Ziegler
Sun May 12, 2024

The 2024 election has prompted an avalanche of stories about the places where abortion is on the ballot. Usually, these stories zero in on the states that are likely to have reproductive rights propositions on the ballot in November (such a ballot initiative is already going forward in two states, Florida and Maryland, and additional measures could be on the ballot in ten other states by the fall).

Ballot initiatives are certainly important. In states with gerrymandered legislatures and limited partisan competition, such measures allow voters to set abortion policy directly.

Continued: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/12/opinions/abortion-ballot-initiatives-florida-supreme-court-ziegler/index.html

12.05.2024

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The Giant Threat Lurking Behind Florida’s November Abortion Vote

BY MARK JOSEPH STERN
APRIL 02, 2024

The Florida Supreme Court seemed to offer a compromise Monday when it greenlit the state’s six-week abortion ban while simultaneously approving a ballot initiative that would, if enacted, create a constitutional right to reproductive freedom. And indeed, the court’s split decision offers hope that Floridians can reestablish their state as an abortion refuge in the South this November. But an ominous current lurked beneath the rulings: Six of the court’s seven justices appeared to endorse fetal personhood under the state constitution as it stands now, expressing support for—as one justice put it—“the unborn’s competing right to life” over the patient’s right to bodily autonomy. The majority’s rhetoric indicates that if the pro-choice amendment fails this fall, the Florida Supreme Court remains ready to grant fetuses and embryos a constitutional right to life that prohibits the Legislature from legalizing abortion in the future.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/04/florida-november-abortion-vote-desantis.html

Florida Supreme Court approves abortion restriction — and ballot measure that would overturn it

The court paved the way for a six-week ban passed in 2023 to take effect.
By Mel Leonor Barclay, Shefali Luthra
April 1, 2024

The Florida Supreme Court struck down its state abortion protection — paving the way for a six-week ban passed in 2023 to take effect — but will allow voters to weigh in on whether they can amend the state’s constitution to explicitly enshrine abortion rights.

The court issued two separate rulings Monday: one upholding a 15-week abortion ban passed in 2022, and another approving an abortion rights ballot measure to go before voters this November. The measure — which will need the backing of 60 percent of voters to pass, the highest threshold in the country — would amend Florida’s constitution to explicitly guarantee abortion rights in the state to the point of fetal viability, which is determined by physicians but is usually around 22 to 25 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2024/04/florida-abortion-ban-ballot-measure/

Florida Supreme Court Rules on Abortion

The Court allows 6-week ban & for voters to decide in November

JESSICA VALENTI
APR 01, 2024

The Florida Supreme Court came down with two abortion rulings today, one good and one very, very bad.

The Ron DeSantis-packed Court ruled that privacy protections in the Florida constitution don’t apply to abortion—undoing decades of precedent. A response to a challenge against the state’s 15-week ban, this decision means that a newer, 6-week ban—one that DeSantis signed into law last April—will go automatically into effect within 30 days. As we know, a 6-week ban in practice is not that different from a total ban.

Continued: https://jessica.substack.com/p/breaking-florida-supreme-court-rules

USA – ‘No one’s coming to save us’: Abortion campaigns scramble for limited cash

From deep-red Arkansas and Missouri to purple Arizona and Nevada, activists are already competing with each other.

By MEGAN MESSERLY and ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
02/19/2024

Abortion rights could be on the ballot in nearly a quarter of states this November, raising concerns among supporters about the ability to fund major campaign efforts in all of them.

From deep-red Arkansas and Missouri to purple Arizona and Nevada, activists are already competing with each other for a limited pool of cash and auditioning for the national progressive groups they need to fund their efforts to enshrine protections in state constitutions.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/19/abortion-access-map-funding-00141436